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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817112">New Tenderness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/pseuds/letmetellyouaboutmyfeels'>letmetellyouaboutmyfeels</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bandstand - Oberacker/Oberacker &amp; Taylor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:41:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>901</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23817112</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/letmetellyouaboutmyfeels/pseuds/letmetellyouaboutmyfeels</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Two soft glimpses.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Donny Novitski/Julia Trojan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>New Tenderness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted on tumblr here: https://letmetellyouaboutmyfeels.tumblr.com/post/616256224377307136/and-last-one-18-or-21-for-donnyjulia-god-you</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“I’ll take care of you.” “It’s rotten work.” “Not to me. Not if it’s you.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He’s fallen asleep while sitting in front of the piano again.</p><p>Not that he realizes this, not until there are warm, soft arms slipping around his shoulders and there’s a kiss pressed to his neck. After much trial and error, Julia’s found this is the best way to wake him up. Shaking him is too impersonal, it startles him. And just arms, those make him think that someone’s attacking him. But a kiss—that tells him right away who it is. And now, he knows her smell, and it seeps into his dreams, tells him who it is even before he realizes he’s dreaming and needs to wake up.</p><p>Donny stirs, falls back into her arms. “’m sorry.”</p><p>“Shh. Don’t be.” Julia’s cool fingers brush through his hair. “Do you think you’ll be able to come back to bed?”</p><p>He thinks about it. Some nights he can’t. But tonight... he thinks he can manage it.</p><p>Julia’s hand caught up in his is the anchor he needs to keep him grounded, to follow her to bed. She’s so patient—sometimes too patient, he fears. “You know that you don’t have to do this. Take care of me, like this.”</p><p>Julia turns and looks at him, and his breath catches. She’s beautiful, of course she is, but that’s not what it is. It’s the look on her face, the way she seems caught between horrified and rueful.</p><p>“Of course I don’t have to.” She smiles as he pushes some of her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear, turning her face so that his fingers end up brushing against her cheek. “I want to.”</p><p>“But it’s not easy.” It’s not even one new challenge after another. It’s the same challenge over and over again. <em>Donny doesn’t sleep. I know, darling, your war’s not over.</em></p><p>“I wasn’t aware I signed up for easy,” Julia replies simply. Julia has never let him steal even an inch from her. She never gives in, never lets him off easy. He loves that about her.</p><p>“I signed up to being your partner.” She takes his hand, her left and his, so that their fingers intertwine and their rings clink together. “For better, for worse, for all the rest in between, and I did it long before we stood in front of a priest for it.”</p><p>She still has the last name Trojan. Not only is it her stage name, but they both want to hold onto a bit of Michael. He should never be forgotten.</p><p>“I know you did.” Even as he protests, Julia’s covering him with a blanket and settling him down, arranging him how she likes so that she can curl up, tuck her face into the back of his neck. “But. It’s rotten work.”</p><p>“Not to me,” she replies, her voice barely a whisper, right up against his ear. “Not if it’s you.”</p><hr/><p>
  <em>“My soul has been so fearful, so violent: forgive its brutality.”</em>
</p><p> </p><p>The first time they sleep together, they grip tight and hold on like they’re passengers on the <em>Titanic. </em>He kisses her so much, so hard, he feels like he’s going to mark her permanently. He can’t stop himself, no matter how much he wants to be soft and gentle for her this first time, he loves her and he loves her and he <em>loves </em>her and it’s just. It’s so much. It’s <em>so </em>much.</p><p>And there’s nothing else that he can do with it besides give it to her. Love her as best he can, even as he feels that his best isn’t all that much.</p><p>Afterwards, as they lie in bed, he can see the bruises. His fingers are branded onto her hips, his mouth is smeared across her breast, his teeth lining her neck.</p><p>He hates himself, just a little, for it.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” He reaches out and brushes his thumb across the mark on her neck.</p><p>Julia hums. She sounds content. Satisfied. When she speaks, her voice is the kind of thick and rough it gets when it’s been used a lot. Like when she spends all night singing, or when she spends all night... well. “Sorry for what?”</p><p>Before he can answer, she goes on, stretching languidly like a cat, “Because if you’re about to apologize for your performance, Donny...” Her smile is sweetness and sin all at once. “There’s no need.”</p><p>“Ah.” It’s dark and he can’t see his own face but he can tell by the heat he’s feeling that he’s blushing. “No, I mean—I’m glad to hear that, but that’s not why I was—I’m sorry I was rough, that’s what I meant.”</p><p>Julia doesn’t seem to be comprehending. He clears his throat. “Your... I’m... sorry I hurt you. I bruised you. I don’t think I—I’m still trying to remember how to be... soft. Instead of... this.”</p><p>“Oh.” She looks down at herself, and only then seems to see the marks. Then she smiles, and looks up at him. “There’s nothing to forgive.”</p><p>Her fingers reach out to him and she presses down on his shoulder, and he hisses, breathing drawing sharply inward in surprise. “I think you’re not the only one who needs to learn how to be... soft, again.”</p><p>He takes her hand in his. Perhaps, then, they can relearn how together.</p>
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